Bonsai
by sari15
Summary: Post-series. Akihito starts to notice an interesting habit of Mirai's much to her embarrassment.


Bonsai

"You know, most girls would start with something like a toothbrush."

Mirai's lips purse together into something not quite resembling a pout, brows furrow into creases across her forehead as her gaze lifts. Honey shaded eyes meet his with obvious confusion, a fork full of omelet pausing in the air halfway to her mouth as she sits at the table frozen in mid-bite. "Start with?"

Smiling at her, Akihito leans over and gently presses his thumb against the crease between her eyes on her forehead to smooth out the wrinkle she'd formed there. Gaze locked with hers, it's obvious she does not quite understand the point he's trying to make from the questioning look she's returning him. He doesn't answer her right away, too blissfully content to stare at her face for however long she'll allow him.

It's literally no more than a few seconds before the dusting of pink across Mirai's cheeks blooms into scarlet, forcing her to turn away from him. Akihito can't help chuckling; arms crossed in front of him as he places his weight on them. Her attention elsewhere, he leans forward just enough to wrap his lips around the fork that remained frozen in the air. Stealing a bite to eat from Mirai, even though he has his own completely full plate with the exact same meal sitting on the table in front of him, is completely worth it to him. The intended reaction by the victim is exactly what he hoped would happen.

"You! Y-You!" Mirai's head whips around to look at Akihito in stunned surprise. The blush is gone from her cheeks, the infraction too serious in her eyes to give into the urge to hide from him again. "You have your own food! Stay away from mine!"

Like a starving animal, Mirai drags her food closer to her body where she proceeds to wrap her arms around the plate protectively as if fearing it will also be snatched away. Akihito just laughs at her adorable expression, leaning forward even more before he's close enough to touch her face with one of his hands. "Stop ignoring me and I won't have to resort to eating your food. I like looking at you."

Shoving her glasses onto her face more firmly, Mirai refuses to maintain eye contact as another blush creeps up from her neck to cheeks and she tries to act tough while still hoarding her food like a possessive dog. "You're unpleasant!"

The feather light touch of his lips brush softly across her mouth before he sits back in his chair again, eyes never leaving her face. It's an action that would have left him anxious and second guessing himself just a few weeks ago. "I'm also your boyfriend, so don't look away. I'm still waiting to wake up from this fantasy."

He never tires of her reaction to him, the severity of it something he hadn't understood until more recently. The words hang between them but are never spoken, yet he can feel the weight of them in the air around them. _Unpleasant_. It's cute, really, how much effort she's putting in to avoid instinctively responding to such an affectionate move on his part by shoving him away with her actions and words.

Instead of maintaining eye contact as he'd requested, Mirai stares at her plate with a face flushed clear to the tips of her ears. Slowly she untangles herself from her plate, before sparing just the briefest glance in his direction before focusing her attention back on her food. "Stop teasing me," she finally responds while she takes a bite of her food. It isn't until she finishes swallowing and the red of her cheeks has faded that she lifts her head to face him straight on. "You just get a kick out of my reaction."

"Well it's not every day I land such a stunning besp-" Akihito gasps, lunging forward in an attempt to still her hand, his fingers wrap around her tiny wrist to stop her intended actions. "Foul play! You can't take them off!"

She already had the frames in her hand and half-way off her face before he stopped her, but there they sit in a stalemate staring at each other to see which one of them will cave first. Gazes lock with one of them grasping a pair of glasses and the other holding her wrist in the air so she doesn't put the spectacles on the table. Almost instantly Akihito finds himself falling into the toffee shaded depths of her gaze, still bemused and amazed by the miracle that has befallen him.

She shouldn't be here. It's a fact that still woke him up at night, sobbing and grasping for her only to come up empty in his sleep. A dream that still continued to haunt him months after she'd returned. At least now he had ways to contact her in the middle of the night to verify she still existed. She hadn't left him behind. Not anymore.

"Are you ready to give in?"

It's the teasing almost sing song tone to her voice that stops him from stubbornly refusing, it wasn't like her to tease him back like that very often. It's only then he realizes he is perfectly content to just sit here all day and stare at her. From the top of her strawberry blonde hair to the bottoms of her brown leather loafers she is perfect. No glasses needed.

Akihito's hand slowly slides down from her wrist to her elbow, fingers trailing behind as he abandons the fight over her glasses. His entire body just melts as he rests his head on his arm, staring up at her from an odd angle beneath her with unconcealed adoration. "Move in with me."

Honestly, he's not quite sure why the words came out but once they were laid out there without the opportunity to stop himself there is surprisingly no regret. The thought, crazy as it was, was entirely natural and right. Apparently he was the only one to think that though because the look of surprise on Mirai's face was more akin to horror than happiness. The impending reaction when she finally processed what he said was developing into a doozy.

Her glasses slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the table. "Ah! You're going to break them!" A hand snapping out to snatch them before they even had a chance to come to rest, Akihito cradles them against his chest gently.

"W-What? You…no, this can't be right. You—Are you insane?" She might be confused, but Akihito knew the question was entirely genuine. She really was questioning his sanity. "I have a place to live. I even have a roommate. We're still in school. I'm only sixteen."

"And yet there are seven bonsai in my apartment that say the one place you want to be is here," he confidently replies, watching as her cheeks flush with denial.

"That means nothing." Pouting adorably, her nonchalant response is entirely at odds with the way her panicked gaze scans around the room as if searching for the evidence she'd overlooked. He just laughs as she spots all seven, getting more and more irritated with each new one. "Y-Your apartment just has better light."

Akihito only smiles, keeping his thoughts to himself. Everything he said can and would only be used against him. She had tended to keep most of her bonsai at school, but they had gone relatively untouched during her three month absence. None of the members of the literary club had the knowledge or patience to care for them beyond the occasional watering and clipping of really obvious overgrowth.

She'd been rightly horrified at the sight of them upon her return and taken them home for special care when she felt like they needed it. Yet…none of them had exactly made it "home" unless she considered the place she took them to be that. Finally she sighs in defeat, unable to give much of an argument against him. He didn't even have to try.

"I didn't realize I was encroaching on your space so much, I'm sorry."

"Most girls start with a toothbrush," he shrugs, giving her a smirk as she glares at him. He just ignores her and leans forward to place her glasses back on her face before finishing it off with a kiss to the bridge of her nose on top of her frame. Bonsai were to Mirai what spectacles were to Akihito. Okay, maybe almost what they were to Akihito. "I'm okay if you want to start with bonsai. Whatever you feel like bringing is okay."

She didn't answer. He knew she wouldn't.

Bonsai number eight showed up about a week later along with an extra pair of clothing-just in case.

The toothbrush took about a month.


End file.
